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Kerala Nurse Nimisha Priya Sentenced to Death in Yemen: India Pledges Full Support
Kerala Nurse Nimisha Priya Sentenced to Death in Yemen: India Pledges Full Support
Nimisha Priya, a Kerala nurse whose death sentence was just accepted by Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi, has received India’s complete backing. Priya was found guilty of killing Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mahdi and has been detained in Yemen since 2017. Her execution is reportedly planned for within a month.
MEA’s Response
Assuring that every option is being considered to assist Priya, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has shown worry over the situation. According to MEA spokeswoman Randhir Jaiswal, “We are aware of Ms. Nimisha Priya’s Yemeni punishment. The government is offering all assistance it can in this case, and the family is investigating pertinent alternatives.
The Case
In 2017, Indian-trained nurse Nimisha Priya was convicted of Mahdi’s murder. Mahdi had confiscated Priya’s passport, which she allegedly tried to retrieve. To temporarily incapacitate him, she gave him a sedative, but the dosage proved lethal, and Mahdi died as a consequence.
In 2018, a Yemeni court convicted Priya to death. After her 2023 Supreme Court appeal was denied, and with the president’s blessing, her future now depends on getting forgiveness from Mahdi’s family and tribal leaders—a Yemeni norm.
Efforts to Save Nimisha Priya
Prema Kumari, Priya’s mother, has been leading her family in their efforts to preserve her life. To negotiate blood money, a customary practice in Yemen that might mitigate the death sentence, Kumari even went to Yemen last year and stayed in Sana’a.
But there have been several difficulties in the discussions. Abdullah Ameer, the attorney the Indian Embassy had hired, first sought a $20,000 pre-negotiation fee, which was then raised to $40,000. Even though the MEA gave $19,871 in July, negotiations were hampered by disagreements about the fees. The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, meanwhile, used crowdsourcing to gather money, but the process was made more difficult by worries about how the money was being used.
Who is Nimisha Priya?
In 2011, Nimisha Priya, who is married and has an eight-year-old child, relocated to Yemen. Because Yemeni legislation required foreigners to work with local partners, she and Mahdi teamed to open a clinic in Sana’a. Priya accused Mahdi of torturing her for years, extorting money from her company, and forging documents to pose as her spouse.
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After years of mistreatment, Priya attempted to sedate Mahdi in July 2017 to get her passport back. Unfortunately, he died as a result of an overdose of the sedative.
